


Dance to the Beat of the Drum

by Omnivorous_Reader



Series: Shobbs AU Bonanza [1]
Category: Fast and the Furious Series, Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, M/M, T only for language, ballerina! Deckard, it's only a hobbs and shaw fic if they have at least one fist fight, undercover agent! Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omnivorous_Reader/pseuds/Omnivorous_Reader
Summary: Luke Hobbs goes undercover at one of London's most prestigious ballet schools, where he's pretending to be a famous dance choreographer. And it seems almost like an impossible job before he meets one ballerina: Deckard Shaw.
Relationships: Luke Hobbs/Deckard Shaw, pre- Luke Hobbs/Deckard Shaw
Series: Shobbs AU Bonanza [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627333
Comments: 10
Kudos: 81





	Dance to the Beat of the Drum

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hinted at doing a ballet Au fic over on my blog, and someone requested me to do a prompt from it. I think I was supposed to write something small, but it ended up being much bigger. 
> 
> And special thanks to OfTheSea9513 for looking over the ballet parts of the fic, and explaining what real ballerinas would do. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“Oi! Watch where you’re going, you big oaf!” What felt like the hundredth, cranky ballerina snapped at him. Mumbling out a quick apology, Luke kept moving, trying to navigate the halls of the dance school. It seemed to go on forever, as Luke went up yet another set of stairs, having to hug the wall as he went because a whole group of little girls came rushing down all at once. It seemed no matter what part of the school Luke was in, there was always some kind of class or practice happening, making his job even harder. 

At the moment, Luke was undercover as a famous American choreographer- Markus Nightingale- so he could gain access to one of the most prestigious ballet schools in London. The DSS had received reports of international human trafficking happening through the school and wanted one of their best getting in and taking the operation down from the inside out. The only problem was that they had just barely briefed Luke before sending him in. All they had managed to do was hand him a folder containing likely suspects and what person he was imitating, and nothing on how to actually talk ballet. 

So, Luke was wandering the halls, trying to find the room where he was supposed to work with several dancers, who were all probably very upset by now because he was ten minutes late. Reaching the end of the hall, Luke peaked into the room he assumed was assigned his for the time being. It looked like all the other rooms he had passed on this floor: floor to ceiling mirrors on two of the walls with a ballet bar in front of them, plenty of space to jump and run around, and only a few chairs folded up and leaning against the wall. 

Sitting off to one side of the room was a wiry looking man in a suit, who looked to be mindlessly scrolling through his phone. Meanwhile, a dancer was already set up and warming up in poses Luke knows he could never pull off. The man was standing at the ballet bar, with one leg stretched out behind him, with his foot resting on the bar. He was gripping the bar with his hands, and leaned down, twisting his torso slightly away from the bar, to stretch his muscles. He did this several times, before he brought his leg down to stand next to the bar. Resting one arm on top of it, he raised the same leg into the air and brought it up so high, that he was doing a split. Luke’s eyes were huge as he watched the ballerina grab the top of his foot to stretch his leg out. 

_ I am so fucked _ , Luke thought as he watched the professional ballet dancer. How was he supposed to pretend to be a famous choreographer, when he didn’t even know what moves the guy was doing in front of him? The agency hadn’t even bothered telling Luke how long he would be undercover, so there was no way of knowing how long he would have to keep up the act, as well. Cursing his luck, Luke finally gave a small knock on the door-frame before entering the room.

“Ah! Mr. Nightingale! It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard such great things about you,” the man in the suit exclaimed, jumping from his seat and rushing over to shake Luke’s hand. His smile was overly wide, which caused his thin face to stretch in almost unnatural way. “I’m Allen Field, one of the dance coordinators. It’s my job to make sure each and every unique dancer under our institution is well cared for and all their needs met.”

“Nice to meet you, Allen,” Luke responded with his own over the top smile. _Are you talking about dancers, or animals?_ Luke thought to himself. “But, I have to say, you guys have to label your school. Took me forever to find this room.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Nightingale, you’ll get used to it. We all do eventually,” Field responded, his smile looking more like he was baring his teeth. “Now, I want you to meet the dancer you’re going to be working with the most. We’ll be expecting you to be choreographing several performances during your stay, but we’re hoping that you’ll put all your effort into creating something truly special with Deckard here.”

As he talked, Field started to gesture wildly before grabbing Luke’s arm with a surprisingly strong grip and dragging him over to the dancer. He had stopped his stretches and was currently standing with his arms crossed as he waited for the other men, looking equally unimpressed and irritated. 

“Mr. Nightingale, I’d like to introduce you to one of our all time performers, Deckard Shaw. He’s been with our school for nearly two decades now, and has been our leading star in over a dozen of our productions, and has even taught some of our other acclaimed alumni.”

“Sounds impressive,” Luke said and stuck his hand out, while subtly looking the other man over. When he had been told he’d have to work with ballerinas, Luke hadn’t been expecting anyone like Deckard: head neatly shaven, a bit of stubble, and an expression that suggested that he had just taken a bite out a lemon. “Markus Nightingale, nice to meet you.”

Deckard’s body was stiff as a board as he stared at Luke, almost as if he was trying to see into Luke’s soul. He must have deemed Luke worthy enough because he let out a grunt before shaking Luke’s hand in a crushing grip. “Hope you’re as good as they say.”

_ Me, too _ , Luke thought, impressed by the dancer’s strong grip and returned in kind. The only indication that Deckard even felt the returned grip was the small smirk that formed on his face. Luke felt his eyebrows raise a tiny bit. Who knew a ballerina would have that kind of strength. Feeling his respect for the dancer go up, Luke finally relented and let go of the other man’s hand. 

“Now,” Field clapped his hands and said in an overly cheery voice, “Let’s get started! I can’t wait to see what you have prepared, Mr. Nightingale.”

Luke smiled back at the overly ecstatic man, and looked at Deckard, who was just frowning back him. And it really hit Luke right then and there how difficult this assignment was going to be. He was in a field that he had absolutely no knowledge of and was purely flying by the seat of his pants. Any one of these professionals could call him out on his obvious ignorance. But, he wouldn’t be Luke Hobbs if he wasn’t able to improvise. Looking away from the smaller man, Luke thought quickly. Spotting the folding chairs, Luke had an idea.

“Ah, about that,” Luke said, and watched Deckard’s eyes narrow and Field’s face marginally fall. “Before I get started, I like to talk to my dancers, get a feel of who they are and what kind of choreography would work best for them. So, how about we have a little chat before I tell you about any of my ideas.”

If it was possible, Deckard’s eyes narrowed further, his face obviously showing his thought of ‘this is bullshit’, while Field’s face perked back up as he looked excitedly between Luke and Deckard. 

“That’s a splendid idea!”

Taking that as permission, Luke quickly grabbed two folding chairs and set them up near where Deckard was standing, while Field dragged his own over, to make a small circle. After, settling into one, Luke watched Deckard’s eyes dart around the room, mostly likely looking for an escape. After a few moments, his shoulders slumped a little and he finally sat down, keeping his arms crossed and body tensed as if ready to run.

“All right, Deckard. Tell me a little about yourself. What got you interested in ballet?” Luke asked, trying to keep his smile non-threatening and unassuming. But, the other man seemed to be put off by it, as he looked over at Field, who only gave a jerky nod of encouragement. 

“When I was younger, my kid brother and sister were takin’ a few classes. After a few complaints, the teacher wanted me to sit in on the class, and make sure my siblings behaved. Got interested, took a class myself, and next thing I knew, I was performing regularly,” Deckard said shortly. “Why do you need to know this stuff?”

“To know where your passions lie,” Luke said confidently. “If I know how dedicated you are to your craft, the easier it will be to trust you with any of my work.”

“You don’t trust how dedicated I am?” Deckard hissed out, clearly pissed off.

“Now, now, Deckard. I’m sure that’s not what Mr. Nightingale meant,” Field said in a voice that wanted to sound soothing, but instead came out almost like a mother scolding a child. Deckard’s glare was turned on Field instead, who let out a small squeak of terror and frantically looked over at Luke. “Right, Mr. Nightingale?”

“Well, that’s the thing, I don’t really know, do I?” Luke said, giving Deckard a small smirk. It was amusing to watch the other man’s forehead crumple in frustration, as he tried to keep his cool. “So, let’s keep going. What productions have you done so far?”   


This went on for quite some time, with Luke asking any questions he could think of and stall until the meeting was over. But by the way Field kept nodding encouragement towards Luke and Deckard, Luke feared that he might actually have to present some kind of planned choreography. On the other hand, Luke was enjoying himself immensely. Deckard Shaw was an incredibly good looking man, and Luke had to admit that the more irritated the dancer became, the more beautiful he became in Luke’s eyes. Which may or may not have been the reason why Luke kept poking at the smaller man and watching the little spark of anger that came into his eye.

Checking his watch, Luke was starting to get desperate- unless he started to ask Deckard what his blood type was, Luke knew there wasn’t much more he could do to stall.

“Ok, then how long have you been using that type of stretching?” Luke asked, with a lot less confidence than he started with. 

“What kind of bloody que-” Deckard started, when he was interrupted by Field’s phone ringing. 

“Ah! I’m so sorry gentlemen, but I must take this,” Field hastily apologized, fumbling for his phone. “But, please, continue.”

Luke watched the man walk out and loudly close the door, silently begging for him to come back. He had no idea how he was supposed to keep the act up- sooner or later, he was going to be caught, and he had just started the operation. Silently cursing his luck and his superiors, Luke turned back towards Deckard, trying to think of yet another pointless question to ask the other man.

Instead of seeing Deckard peacefully sitting in his chair, Luke saw a blur of motion coming straight for him. Jerking away from the swinging punch that was directed at his face, Luke felt his whole body going backwards. A loud crash sounded through the room as Luke and chair landed on the floor in a heap.

“What the fuck?!” Luke yelped out, but before he had time to collect himself, Deckard was coming for him again. 

The other man was quick as lightning as he threw himself at Luke, and the two went rolling on the floor. Luke tried to grab Deckard by the hips, but the man squirmed out of his grasp like an eel, and delivered several sharp jabs to Luke’s ribs, causing him to let out a grunt. Finally, Luke got a handful of Deckard’s shirt and tossed the dancer off of him. Luke scrambled to his feet and saw Deckard do the same, but with much more grace. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you small ass maniac?” Luke demanded. 

Instead of answering, Deckard glared and rushed towards Luke again. Even though Luke was staring straight at him, the dancer moved with such an incredible speed, that he was almost too fast for Luke to register as he delivered punches and kicks nonstop. Luke was successful in blocking some, but the smaller man had the advantage it seemed, as he was able to send a sweeping kick at Luke’s head. 

Without thinking, Luke grabbed the leg coming towards his head, and harshly yanked on it. He felt Deckard’s weight drop to the floor with a surprised yell as he lost his balance. As soon as he was on the ground, Luke could see Deckard pulling his feet under him, ready to spring up again. 

“Oh, no you don’t,” Luke growled and dropped down on the other man. It almost felt like he was trying to grapple with water, as Deckard wiggled for all of his worth. Somehow, Luke was able to get a hold of fast moving arms and pin Deckard’s wrists to the ground. Luke pulled Deckard’s arms up above his head and kept them in place with one hand, using the other to push down on the back of Deckard’s neck, efficiently trapping the smaller man under him. 

Harsh panting filled the room as both men stilled, with Luke moving his legs to stop Deckard from jerking his up and pushing Luke off of him. Under his hand, Luke could feel Deckard straining his neck to move his head in a more comfortable position. 

“Now, want to tell me why you attacked me, you absolute bastard?” Luke panted out.

“Fuck you, arsehole,” Deckard spat out, just barely being able to glare up at Luke from his place on the floor.

Applying a bit more pressure on his neck, Luke shook his head. “That’s not the right answer. Come on man, you were just answering my questions pretty well a while ago.”

“When you were pretending to be a shitty choreographer?” 

Luke froze. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, get off of it, you right bastard,” Deckard huffed out a laugh. “The only person you’re fooling is the wanker in the suit. He wouldn’t know a real choreographer from his own arsehole.”

And yeah, Luke had to agree.

“So,” Deckard continued. “Who the bloody hell are you?”   


Luke sighed. The jig was up. “Look, if I let you up, do you promise not to attack me again?”

“No.”

“Then it looks like we’re doing this the hard way,” Luke sighed. Swiftly, he turned the other man over, keeping his arms and legs pinned to the floor. Making eye contact, Luke made sure he had Deckard’s attention. “What I’m going to tell you is classified information. If I tell you this and you let this leak, I’ll make sure you never see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of your life.”

“Just get on with it.” Deckard rolled his eyes. 

“Fine. I’m a DSS agent, sent undercover to find information on rumors of human trafficking occuring in this school,” Luke admitted and watched Deckard’s reaction.

Under him, he saw Deckard’s body freeze and his eyes widen. 

“Bloody fuck.”

“Yeah. So, you’re right. I’m not a choreographer, but I need to keep this cover or else whoever is part of the trafficking ring will get wind of me, and everything will be ruined.”

“Well,” Deckard began, and gave Luke a searching look. “You’re never going to pull it off if you don’t get some pointers.”

“You offering?” Luke asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I guess so,” Deckard gave a small shrug. “I want those sick bastards caught, and if you’re the one to do it, I suppose I’ll help ya.”

Luke pursed his lips and looked down at the other man. They kept eye contact for a few seconds, before Luke slowly released Deckard’s wrists and got off of him. Watching for any attempted escape attempts, Luke was surprised when all Deckard did was sit up and smooth down his shirt.

“But, why the hell did you attack me?” Luke asked warily. “And I know some of those moves aren’t from ballet. Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

“My little sister’s an agent,” Deckard shrugged. “Paranoia runs in the family.”

Letting out a snort, Luke nodded, understanding the reasoning. As soon as Sam was able to, Luke had started to teach her self defense, so Luke could see Deckard’s sister developing the same urgency to get her older brother to learn how to protect himself.

“So, what do I need to know to be a convincing choreographer?”

“First thing is, you need to actually know something about ballet,” Deckard deadpanned. 

“Ok, good point,” Luke sheepishly agreed. 

“And to really know ballet, one must do ballet,” Deckard said, sending Luke a toothy grin. With that, Deckard stood up and walked by Luke, who was still sitting, and patted his shoulder, “Let’s see if we can’t find any tights in your size, big guy.”

Luke’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and then drew down just as fast. He didn’t like the way Deckard said that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope it sounded good. I had to some research on ballet, so if Luke sounds pretty ignorant on ballet, he's just reflecting my own ignorance on the subject. I enjoyed writing an AU and hope to do so again. 
> 
> Also, I hope Deckard didn't seem too OOC during the fight. Keep in mind, this Deckard is a dancer, not a full on fighter like he normally is. He's probably only sparred with Hattie or Owen in this universe. 
> 
> If you enjoyed, feel free to comment, it helps me stay motivated in writing, especially with the end of the semester coming up.
> 
> If you ever want to talk Shobbs, the Shaw family, or anything else, feel free to stop on by at my tumblr!  
> omnivorousshipper


End file.
